


Maybe I Can Be Another Thing You Like About Earth

by 34c



Category: Steven Universe (Cartoon)
Genre: Amethyst and Lapis interact basically, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, F/F, Platonic/Ambiougously Romantic Relationships, Possible Crush, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder - PTSD, and they both get father than they think they could have
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-05-30
Updated: 2016-06-09
Packaged: 2018-07-11 03:58:59
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 3,203
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7027561
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/34c/pseuds/34c
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Lapis Lazuli has been on Earth for a while. It's been peaceful recently, too. With peace, comes thoughts and revelations. With peace, comes new ideas and new things to think about.</p><p>Recently, Amethyst has been the one on the blue Gem's mind.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Starting Rocky

**Author's Note:**

> there is like 0 fics of lapis and amethyst being serious and deep and the main focus of a story. i intend to change that

What Lapis Lazuli knew of Amethyst were these three things:

She liked to talk. 

She liked eating.

She liked Earth. 

All three of those things were foreign to the blue Homeworld Gem. The first one she once knew; Lapis had talked plenty on Homeworld before the rebellion. Lazulis had to do that because of their high aristocratic status and high ranking as decorative soldiers when called upon. 'Trump cards,' as they were often called. And trump cards always had to brag whenever they fulfilled that role.

The second one Lapis never really considered the possibility of. Personally, she cringed at the idea of eating food, that stuff Steven brought with him on multiple occasions. Lapis was told food tasted good, but that Gems didn't need it. Of course, she knew this, because she was one of them. Gems didn't require sustenance. Homeworld had always made this so clear to its inhabitants; in fact, the mere state of being inorganic was was something Homeworld prized, especially in the realm of being superior to other races. Gems didn't require really anything that humans, or most organic life required at all.  
Lapis wanted to keep it that way.

The third thing, Lapis abhorred the idea of. Earth was...well it wasn't as bad as it once was, but liking it seemed just a little bit too much. Saying it was nice gave it a little too much credit. As kind as Steven was, as wonderful as Jersey was, as calm as the leaves were on this planet, she couldn't say she liked it. Too much trauma existed here for Lapis to consider liking it, much less as much as Amethyst did. 

How did she do it?

"What...what drives you to like this place?" The blue gem said to herself, sitting up from her position on the grass. Lapis wondered why she even wanted to like Earth in the first place. It would certainly make things more enjoyable, yes, and true, she wasn't getting out of here anytime soon, but she could live in misery, right? It wasn't that hard, right?

Lapis hissed at the thought of being underwater with Jasper again. The feelings, the power struggle, the manipulation; all of it vaguely flashed over the whites of her eyes. Misery. She lived in misery once, didn't she? No, Malachite was more akin to torture. It wasn't just misery, it was long, arduous torture, created from hate and fueled by insecurity and rage. Why did she do that anyway? Why couldn't she just let go? Steven was worth it, right? He was worth that pain, right?

Lapis ducked her head, her own swim mining thoughts taking ahold of her once again. Her panicked response resulted in the water from the nearby barn raising involuntarily, as if to her defense. Lapis didn't snap out of her frantic, distressed state until she heard the shout of someone she swore was familiar.

"Hey!"

Who was that?  
Lapis held her head in her hands, trying to convince herself it wasn't anyone. The water raised higher and higher, similar to a pillar rising out of the ground. The higher it went, the harder Lapis clutched her head, and the harder she shook. The thoughts in her head raged harder and harder until she lost control and let the tower fall. Another shout came from the same stranger as before.

"Hey! Yo, Lapis!" they shouted. "Lapis! I was bathing here! Well, not really bathing, just taking a dip, but you get the idea! What gives?"

Amethyst. The stranger was Amethyst. Lapis snapped to full attention because of that loud, brash voice, and turned around to witness what she might have done. If she hurt Amethyst, something might happen to her. The Crystal Gems might hurt her back. Or worse, even more, she might even be forced to _fuse_ with someone. 

The last idea completely unnerved the blue Gem. She would have none of that. She sprung to her feet and readied a flight stance, water wings spread out with the intention of gaining momentum. She glared at Amethyst, who was still on the ground, who still didn't move. This could have been somewhat comical, if Lapis hadn't been so on edge from her mistrust of the Crystal Gems, and if Amethyst wasn't so oblivious to the other Gem's paranoia and fear issues. 

Seconds later, Lapis's fears were quelled, although in a less than desirable way than she would've liked. Amethyst got up from her fall laughing and pointing at Lapis, slowly walking towards her. She kept walking until she neared Lapis with only a few feet in-between them, at which she vigorously shook her entire body free of water. Wild lavender hair flung water onto royal blue skin, and the latter was promptly soaked in little to no time at all. Amethyst laughed as Lapis seethed, frantically trying to shake her body free of the clear liquid.

"Amethyst!" Lapis yelled. Her body shook as water dripped off of her.

"Whaaaaat?" the purple Gem responded playfully. Amethyst kept giggling, holding her hands over her mouth as if she was trying to hide the fact she was laughing from Lapis.

"Stop!" Lapis said, hoping her consent would be taken into consideration. "This is a joke! This isn't funny!" 

"Yeah, but neither was your trick with the water I was swimming in. Lapy, a girl has to have a midnight dip sometimes. Ya can't interrupt that sacred–"

"I don't care about that!" Lapis shouted, stomping her foot. Amethyst froze at the other's angered reaction, and stood surprised, as well as somewhat off-guard at how the other yelled at her. Lapis gave a shaky sighed and rolled her eyes, not surprised at the other's lack of an answer. 

'Typical. People only listen to me when I yell,' she thought. She was sick of this.  
Lapis clicked her tongue in disappointment and disgust at Amethsyt, before quickly springing into the air, ready for another solitary flight towards the Earth's heavens and atmosphere. 

At least there she would have some kind of respite from these Gems.

But Amethyst interrupted that. Lapis yelped, as the purple Gem leaped forward with incredible velocity before she flew too high and grabbed ahold of her ankle. The disruption of her one-track mind for the sky caused her to sputter and fall to the ground, grinding against the dirt and grass of the Earth she hardly liked. 

"Now I'm angry!" she yelled, turning back towards Amethyst. "Leave me alone! If you don't..." Lapis looked at the hole of water behind Amethyst, and lifted her hand up in its direction. The water rose at her will and formed a large fist, ready to smash anything at her whim. 

"I'll be forced to take action! So stop following me, and stay away!" Lapis readied the fist to strike.

No reaction.  
Lapis and Amethyst both stared at each other, wide-eyed gazes locked as if the fate of the universe depended on them maintaining eye contact. Lapis began to twitch after a while, the large purple eyes and furrowed brow of Amethyst being something that felt so uncomfortable to look at for so long. When she neared her breaking point, Amethyst spoke up, jarring Lapis's already scattered sense of mind.

"Hey. Uh..." Amethyst said. She took a pause, as if trying to find words. What words could possibly make her mistakes better?

"Sorry." 

Huh?

"I didn't mean to upset you."

That could do the trick. 

Lapis tensed, then took a deep breath, the first movement she made since their stare down. She slowly, yet rigidly, let down her water fist, slowly scooting back as she did. All the while, she kept her glare on Amethyst constant, like a focused laser, until the water came down fully, settling back into its previous position as a lake.

Amethyst did nothing in response to Lapis's silence. The Gem just simply stood there, watching, eyes wide. Lapis cocked her head at how Amethyst didn't even move. Wasn't this the gem that was supposed to be the loudest? The most brash? She had certainly seen Amethyst be all of those things. That incident with the Rubies was certainly an example.

Lapis decided to cast away her thoughts on the apparent peculiarity of Amethyst's behavior, and indulge in on her idea to flee. She spread her water wings one more time, initiating liftoff the exact second they spread to their maximum. She took off into the Earth sky, amethyst eyes trailing bright blue water wings until the latter disappeared into the dark horizon.


	2. Laughter

Lapis Lazuli was found two miles from the barn, in a forest, far to east. Steven had gone looking for her on Peridot's request, as if the little green gemlin wasn't annoying enough. Although yes, it was Steven who found her, and yes, Lapis was glad that Steven was also worried about her, the fact Peridot was a part of it was just...unnerving to the blue Gem, to say the least.

But home she flew to with him, and soon she resumed her daily activities. Listening to Peridot mumble about incoherent subjects, stare at the sky, and occasionally go for a flight not to far from the barn. Lapis liked routine, and although she loved Steven, if he interrupted this routine when she wasn't ready, she would get snappy. Lapis needed time away from gems and humans for a while because of Amethyst's joke, so Steven and Peridot let her do her thing.

She got two days before it was interrupted. But not by Steven, and not by Peridot, but rather, by the purple gem who caused this mess in the first place.

Lapis sighed with annoyance as she felt someone climbing the side of the barn. It was night again; the sky was filled with stars Lapis had learned the names of on Homeworld, and right now she was counting how many they currently used for power that she could see. She tried to ignore the heavy hands that climbing the barn; she knew they were too small for Peridot and Steven. She suspected Garnet at first, but that Gem seemed to be the only one sensible enough to know when a barrier of mistrust was to be acknowledged. Plus, she just seemed to know when to leave people alone in general. 

When Amethyst's purple hand came into the corner of her eye, Lapis sighed in annoyance and turned away from her. Maybe if she pretended she didn't see her, this could be over.

"Hey, c'mon Lapy, don't be like that," Amethyst said, hoisting herself completely onto the roof of the barn. Lapis gave her an annoyed sigh and shut her eyes. 

"I need to talk here. You like Steven, don't you? Pearl says I would be another Steven if I was human. That's gotta count for something, huh?"

"No."

"Aw c'mon, why doesn't it?"

"Because you're not Steven."

"But I'm–"

Lapis leaned up and shot an icy glare at Amethyst, almost as icy as Malachite's own.

"I don't care what you are like him, to him, or similar to about him! Leave me alone! You're! Not! Steven! Don't use him against me!"

"Okay, okay Lapis!" Amethyst said, matching Lapis's volume of voice. "Uh...actually, I didn't come for that! To annoy you, like you think everyone does. I...I actually wanted to come here and apologize."

Lapis turned over to Amethyst, a glare present on her face. Amethyst wasn't fazed (she was used to it from Pearl) and continued.

"I'm...I'm sorry. For that stunt I pulled a while ago. I don't understand what's happening to you, but I know I scared you. Ya'know, because Steven had to go get you. I...I don't want to drive you away from him. He loves you, and a lug like me shouldn't have scared you and potentially...made you leave forever. So yeah," she said, sitting down.

"Sorry." 

Lapis didn't say anything, and after some time, their silence grew awkward and bloated like a rotting balloon, and caused Amethyst to consider going home.

"Well, you heard me at least. So you can't say you didn't. See ya later, water wangs," Amethyst said, waving at Lapis, taking a step back to exit. She gave Lapis a big, funny looking smile, which brought back the feelings from the first time Lapis thought about Amethyst in the first place. Steven made that face once, when he talked about how much he liked the way the leaves smelled on Earth. And now, here Amethyst was making it.   
Was Amethyst making that face because she liked Lapis, who, just like the things Steven adored, was on Earth?

Lapis tensed in surprise at Amethyst's announced leave and scrambled to her feet. Amethyst noticed Lapis's behavior and turned around, bewildered as to why a Gem usually so unfriendly now carried a sense of curious urgency in her eyes.   
When their eyes met, they stayed like that for a while, until the blue Gem realized she has started staring at Amethyst's wild lavender hair and not her eyes, as well as gotten too distracted to give Amethyst a response.

"Wait!" Lapis finally managed to say. Amethyst turned completely around to give this odd situation her full attention. Lapis wasn't normally this interactive with any of the Crystal Gems. This had to be good.

Lapis felt uncomfortable by Amethyst's wide-eyed stare, which she felt was just too invasive. Typical, because she expected nothing less from the Crystal Gems, but the invasiveness never felt personal until now. Lapis almost felt like she was doing something wrong, but she had a strange feeling in her gut that told her to keep going. 

"Why...why do you like the Earth so much?" 

The question is asked so abruptly and so off-kilter that another silence is left between the two again. Lapis wondered if she has to clarify, because Peridot did use to tell her to be more precise with her answers. Lapis somewhat wished that she listened to the little green annoyance, but when Amethyst responded, her thoughts of Peridot dissipated. 

"I..what?"

"Tell me why you like Earth so much. It's been bothering me ever since I saw you."

"Hm? Well LL, if it's been bothering you so much why didn't you ask earli–"

"This isn't the time for that kind of questioning! Tell me, right here, while you're still right here, why you love this gem-forsaken planet so much."

"Oh? Huh, well that's easy. It's all I know! It'd be pretty stupid to not like a place you've lived all your life. Especially when that place has so many cool things! Like Garnet, Pearl, and Steven! And oh, doughnuts. Man, I love doughnuts." 

"Dough...nuts...?" Lapis wondered if that was a game or something human's played.

"Yeah man, doughnuts! Oh man they're super good. They're baked pastries sold down in town that are fried and covered in stuff like chocolate and sugar, and oh, sometimes jelly! It's sweet and delicious man, you can't get any better than doughnuts!"

"O...kay..." Lapis said. So apparently doughnuts weren't a game, but a food. Amethyst ate sustenance, on Earth?

"You...eat things...for fun, I presume!"

"Yep, and Lapiz, you gotta you try them sometimes."

"It's Lapis."

Amethyst began to look like she was holding in a laugh. Lapis took a step back, bewildered.

"Pff...AHAHAHA! Oh man, I didn't know you didn't know what nicknames were!"

"Nick...names? And why isn't 'Lapis' sufficient enough? Do you derive joy out of calling me something I'm not? Is this some kind of sick game?!"

"Nah man, no! Nicknames don't work like that! I'm not trying to insult you. I just give 'em to people I like, because it's easier to say. And it's fun!" 

"Oh..." Lapis looked down at her feet.

"Yeah...so, did I answer your question?"

"What question?"

"Your question about the Earth, and what I liked about it. Why do you wanna know anyway? Steven's told me you're not a big fan."

"Because, I can't go home. And...I'm going to have to live here for a long time. If I must live here, I have to find things to like about it. So I was wondering what some of my options were. Also," Lapis said as she focused on Amethyst intently again. This time, the purple Gem's eyes no longer felt invasive or uncomfortable.

"Do you need a big reason to like Earth? Like...uh...what's a reason...hm..."

"Nope!" Amethyst interrupted, before Lapis could think of anything. Amethyst started giggling at herself as she continued.

"Nah man, you don't need a huge, super fancy reason to like Earth. You can like Earth just because it's Earth! You can like Earth just because of the doughnuts! You can like Earth just because of...uh...the leaves! The leaves you can like Earth just because of the leaves."

Lapis giggled at the last thing the other said. She did like leaves. They were weird, falling down every season as Steven told her (she had no idea what a season was, but she figured it was something like a cycle on Earth). But regardless of their weird behavior, they were pretty and felt nice in the hand.

"W-w-well, I do like leaves, that's for sure..." Lapis couldn't stop grinning as she spoke through giggles. What was so funny about leaves.

Amethyst laughed at Lapis's giggling. Lapis felt insulted at first, but when she realized Amethyst wasn't laughing at her, but _with_ her, she let more giggles slip. She tried her best to maintain a calm and collected demeanor, but soon she had a case of laughter not even the worst disaster could cure. She and Amethyst laughed with each for a long while, until Lapis felt her chest hurt. She crouched to the ground and held her torso.

"Ahaha...ha...ow! Ow ow, hey! What's...what's this-?!"

"Lapiz, have you really not laughed this hard before? Aha, oh man! The first time you get a good laugh it's gonna hurt, cause you're so out of breath."

"But it gets better right? It stops hurting, right?"

"Yeah, it'll eventually go away. Don't worry, nothing's wrong with you."

"Whew..." Lapis said, and laid down on her side. "I thought something was wrong with me...." She looked up and flashed a small smile to Amethyst, who seemed greatly appreciative of...something, as she smiled wider than Lapis ever had in her life. It looked nice on her, and Lapis couldn't help but want to find something that could give her a smile like that one day.

"Nah man, there's nothing with ya'. But, as for the thing I came here for, we on good terms now?"

"Totally! You're okay."

"Mhm! Thanks Lapizza Jazzuli!" Amethyst jumped off the barn and ran the west, her home, wherever that was. Lapis should really consider asking Amethyst to show her where she lived. She was getting tired of rooming with Peridot.

Plus, it'd be nice to have Amethyst as a guide to Earth. For some reason, Lapis fell into a slumber, thinking about that wild, friendly, lavender hair that never seemed to sit still and the laugh of Amethyst, another thing she grew to like about the Earth.


End file.
